Must-read stories: June 22, 2012 edition

Better late than never, here are a few stories from the past couple days you may have missed…

In spirit of bipartisanship, Kasich administration fires Democrats
No explanation was given for the firing of two Democrats from the State Parole Board. Maybe a former OSU quarterback needed a job?

National media notice Governor’s recent change in toneTalking Points Memo and Bloomberg both covered the ongoing tension between Ohio’s Governor wanting to talk about economic gains in the state and the Romney campaign who’d rather he didn’t.

Kasich got the Romney talking pointsKasich’s recent turn from cheerleader to naysayer, when it comes to Ohio’s auto recovery, is actually significant enough that even the Kasich boosters at the Dispatch were willing to call him out:

“Our message has always been pretty clear, and I’ve told Romney this myself: We’re improving, we’re up 94,000 jobs, which is great, but we still have the wind in our face,” Kasich said. “I was very nervous about the last unemployment numbers, and I’m nervous about the next month’s unemployment numbers. When you have all this uncertainty out of Washington, you have a problem.

… The Bloomberg story also said Scott was asked by the Romney campaign “to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency” — which is similar to what Kasich says.

Is the Governor minimizing auto job gains?
A new report from Innovation Ohio shows the number of direct jobs gained in Ohio’s automotive sector is closer to 12,500, not the 1,800 that Kasich likes to talk about.

Candid admission alert: illegal coordination?
From ABC News’ story on the tensions between the economic message of GOP Governors and Romney, we caught this:

Nichols said Romney’s campaign communicates with Kasich’s office “routinely” but said he couldn’t give many details.

Since using public resources to help a campaign is frowned upon, we certainly hope they’re not doing this on state time, phones or computers.

Joe the Plumber said something stupid? It must be Wednesday.
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s opponent has a web video that blames the Holocaust on gun control. Jewish leaders in the district aren’t so sure.

Major papers call out Josh Mandel for dirty campaigning
This week, the Toledo Bladetold Mandel (and Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher) to raise their games. Meanwhile, the Plain Dealersuggests Mandel’s campaign is stuck on the low road.